Sometimes it amazes me when I think of what we have available to us today, not only within our hobby, but including those items in our lives which influence our hobby activities. We went shopping yesterday and, as usual, hit the three large bookstores within half a mile of each other. Annie and Katie browsed through the "Baby-Sitter Club" book section while I frequented the "sale books" area. Years ago when I looked for military books it used to be that one would find a few general works on the shelves; nowadays, there are so many volume available on the most specific of subjects!
Something that amazes me even more is being able to to purchase VHS movies - some for as little as five dollars - and bring them home and play them on my VCR! I recall going to see PORK CHOP HILL with my Mother (remember that, Mom!) and thinking how great it would be to have a copy of that film to play whenever I wanted to do so. Now in my film collection I have movies like KHARTOUM, MARCH OR DIE, ZULU, ZULU DAWN, SHAKA ZULU, GUNG HO, OUTPOST IN MOROCCO, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, and more. I find that I no longer watch TV, preferring to view exactly what I wish to at the time that I want to watch it and, without commercials!
Last Thursday night I made my way up to Tod Fisher's EMPEROR'S HEADQUARTERS, easily the most complete historical wargames miniatures store in the world, looking for 15mm Sudan figures and found complete stocks for three manufacturers; ESSEX, MINIFIGS, and STONE MOUNTAIN! Not only are there many figure companies producing the popular periods such as the ACW, Napoleonics, Ancients, etc., but they produce them in 25mm, 15mm, 6mm, and 2mm! Some are even produced in 20mm. Whereas it used to be that there would be one manufacturer producing what was referred to back then as the "less popular periods" such as Franco-Prussian War, Colonials, etc., now there are a plethora and, in addition, there are companies making figures for the Maximilian period in 25mm and 15mm! If I want my wargames armies to look "irregular" in appearance by having many different poses, I don't necessarily have to purchase figures from a number of different companies, rather, a manufacturer will produce literally dozens of different poses of the same figure! I can go to a convention, such as HISTORICON, and actually see what is available throughout the hobby at that given time. I can take my choice of perhaps five to six publications devoted entirely to historical miniatures wargaming; have hundreds of professionally done rules sets to choose from; pick a wargaming publication which fits what I personally want; and purchase terrain items which were unheard of just a few years ago. I can attend a multitude of conventions - small and large - and view how other people construct their terrain, paint their figures, write their rules, conduct their games, and play rules sets I am interested in. The amount of sharing information within this hobby is truly amazing! Friends send me movies, figures, figure lists, books, xeroxed articles - as I do them. In the 70's people talked about how the hobby was "dying" because of fantasy gaming; in the 80's the same was said because of the rapid proliferation of available products.
I remember writing, within this very column, of how I didn't think there was a large enough market, both in advertisers and subscribers, for the growing number of professional publications. Well, I was wrong and so was everyone else who spelled the "death knell" for our hobby. Could it be due to the fact that as we have aged, our earning power increased? It is a strange situation to be in when one's armies are limited in size and scope primarily by the lack of available time to paint them, as opposed to a lack of funds, as it used to be! When I bought my first figures; a pack of ten HINCHLIFFE French line infantry advancing in greatcoats for $2.50 at the old Sutler's Wagon in Chicago, I arrived home depressed, feeling that now I was committed to that period because of the expenditure of cash!
I would like to thank my brother-in-law and his wife, Gary and Vicki Micheau, who took my computer and laser printer back to Upper Michigan to add more memory and check out some interfacing problems between the computer and printer and sent back all new items, including the 4.0 version of QA (I previously was using 3.0) and the PAGEMAKER software which I am going to try out soon with MWAN. Look at the publishing possibilities within our hobby at the present time. It is not uncommon for us to own personal computers of such a nature as to boggle the imagination. Whereas newsletters used to be mimeographed, then photocopied, we now utilize professional equipment to produce them. Issues five through seventeen of MWAN were typed upon mimeograph paper - did you ever try to correct errors on mimeograph paper? - and then run off on an ancient mimeograph machine resulting in extreme frustration and an even worse mess in the family room and on my person! Now I sit down at a word processor which checks my spelling - if they could only do something with my grammar and sentence/paragraph structure, I'd be in business! I could scan whole pages in my computer if I had the equipment! Simply mind boggling to me!
Have received enough articles on HISTORICON to fill up this issue so it must have been a great convention! Congratulations to those involved in the actual running of it! My congratulations also go out to Dick Bryant, of THE COURIER for the award bestowed upon him by HMGS. Dick is indeed a very deserving individual who not only has published THE COURIER (both new and old versions) but has been behind the scenes on many important events for our hobby. Anyone who has been involved in publishing at any level, professional or amateur, has a good idea of what Dick has endured and accomplished, and has to tip his hat to Dick for sticking it out for so many years. Speaking of HISTORICON, they have accomplished a great deal over the years. LITTLE WARS used to be, in my opinion, the premier event for historical miniatures wargaming, when Tod Fisher (another deserving candidate for the HMGS award) was in charge of it.
I suspect the east coast location of HISTORICON and the individuals involved in conducting it over the years have resulted in HISTORICON becoming the best historical wargames convention produced in this country. I don't think the west coast could compete and the Midwest has shown that it can not. It's funny, when I sort MWANs by state for the bulk mailing, California is high in subscribers, as are the states surrounding Illinois, but it is the east coast which has the largest stacks of MWANs; even the smaller eastern states are well represented. It must be a very active historical miniatures wargaming community out there!
Being Labor Day Weekend, I have three days off and am on my second. Last night I glued around 500 15mm Dervish and Fuzzies to tongue depressors (six foot figures to each) in preparation for spray paint priming and eventual painting. Beautiful little figures - multiple poses of Fuzzy and Dervish foot; Nordenfeldt, Gardner, and Gatling guns; several varieties of Egyptian foot and mounted units; Naval Brigade and Camel Corps units; and Highlander and British infantry figures. I also prepared some 25mm Sudan WARGAMES FOUNDRY and GDW (from their SPACE 1889 line) British line infantry for painting.
I think it's possible we've overlooked the GDW SPACE 1889 British figures. They are, I believe, made by RAFM and are very nice figures. I've been taking my time with this period (in two scales) just picking up figures from time to time and stocking them away for future painting.
I am, however, caught up with painting the 25mm Dervish I have on hand and have to get some more of them. Ever since I finished my French Foreign Legion period (with a few units such as the Chasseurs d'Alfrque, Mocorran Infantry, and FFL Cavalry left to do), I've just sort of been "wandering" through my basement checking out stockpiles of figures and getting rid of those which I honestly don't believe I'll ever do, and reorganizing other periods.
For instance, in the last issue, I mentioned that I am redoing the organization for my 25mm ACW period. I'm also getting ready to go into the French-Indian War (FRONT RANK 25mm) and wish to continue my 25mm CHARGE-Type SYW project by getting more FRONT RANK and I now see that DIXON has a 25mm line out for either the SYW or French-Indian War (or both) period so I guess I must have some of them as well! Clem brought over a nicely done frontier blockhouse (stone on the bottom and logs on the top) in 25mm which now graces my wargames and I spent an evening mounting trees on irregularly cut double-tempered hardboard sections (two to five trees per section) and then grassing the sections with KIBRI static grass. I've made figures lists for the French-Indian War -- around 500 or so figures -- and thought long and hard about rules and organization. I think I'll probably go with the Peter Young CHARGE organization as then I can use the units for the SYW CHARGE project as well -- double duty so to speak.
Spent several hours today preparing more 15mm Dervish and Fuzzies for painting. Essex has some really nice figures; if you only look at the Fuzzy foot, there are 12 different poses within three or so packs. Some of the figures require that you glue on the weapons, something I don't ordinarily like, however, with Essex, it seems as though they always give you a well casted open hand to work with. I use the same approach as I use with 25mm, that is to use blue-green epoxy purchased in a hardware store and then put a drop of super glue over it before putting on the weapon. Sometimes I put an additional drop of super glue over the weapon and the hand once the weapon is in the hand for additional strength. I purchased a large number of Stone Mountain 15mm Sudan figures; all Dervish and Fuzzy foot, and like them. They don't have the same detail as the Essex, but they have a large variety of poses, fit in well with Essex and Minifigs, and will probably look just as good when they are painted.
Does anyone know where I can obtain 25mm Indian infantry, cavalry and artillerymen for my 25mm Sudan project? They would have to fit in with the Wargames Foundry, GDW British infantry, and Victorian Classics figures, that is to say that they would be a slightly "larger" 25mm figure though not as large as the Peter Guilder figures. I know that Hinchliffe has a few figures in this line and I have ordered some of the infantry and artillerymen to see if they will fit in. I am a little suprised that no one, besides Ral Partha, has made a 25mm Northwest Frontier line. Speaking of 25mm Sudan, I've sort of settled upon an organization for this period - 36 figures, mounted three to a stand, for the British; perhaps 42 for the Highlanders which were usually a little stronger, perhaps 30 for the Egyptians and Sudanese. I plan on having six figures per regiment mounted individually to act as skirmishers. I can't believe that I'm setting myself up to paint British redcoats and white crossbelts again. I suspect that I have painted more British Colonial infantry than any wargamer in the entire world! Oh, if anyone has eight or so extra GDW British 25mm Infantrymen from their SPACE 1889 stuff, I'd sure be interested in purchasing them as I need them to fill up a unit.
It's been two weeks today since I sent out #53 which reported that there was some possibility that MWAN may cease publication with #58. Tonight I received twenty (20) letters from MWANer's pertaining to that subject! Simply amazing! What's also amazing about it is that everyone who has commented thus far has suggested that if MWAN interferes with my family or job, or I am simply tired of doing it, then they support such a decision! Thanks very much for your thoughtful and considerate letters. Even Barbara, my wife, who rarely has an interest in MWAN (she used to hate it as a matter of fact), although she did start reading my editorials sometime ago, wants to sit down and read the letters. I have been giving much thought to the subject and still have a considerable amount of time to decide what to do.
It's very possible, I think, that the true culprit here is working two jobs since last November and that my other concerns were primarily "red flags" going up that "something" was wrong here and it the whole matter left me with considerably less patience and tolerance for "publishing occurrences" than I usually like to exercise. As I've stated before, and a point which my wife has been emphasizing to me lately, it would be very difficult for me to give up MWAN. I just want you to know that I appreciate your letters and thoughts contained therein.
I imagine this next subject is one which many of you can relate to. Since my painting spree in July, I haven't finished a single figure and it's not because I don't have enough unpainted castings! What I've been doing is to jump around from one period to the other; 15mm Sudan to 25mm Sudan to 25mm F&IW to 25mm Charge and even thinking about 20mm WWII Russian Front! As a result, I have been making multiple lists of the various periods concerning units and organization and pouring over figure lists to determine which figures I want for each period. Doing so has been a great deal of fun, but it hasn't resulted in any more painted castings finding their way to the wargames table! what I've decided to do is to just work on the 15mm Sudan project and put away everything else until I am finished with it. Let's see how long that lasts!
I just returned from Clem Clemen's house; hadn't been there for about three weeks and he's been really busy with building French-Indian War structures. He has one fort completed and two more in process - they are really nice! He mounts them on 2' X 2' double-tempered hardboard pieces; one is of Fort Dearborn while I'm not sure of the other two. With one of them, instead of making blockhouses, he made "dirt" emplacements on the corners; three for guns and one for firing figures. Very nice idea and it looks great! He also made me some Indian lodges - small and large - and has been manufacturing enough canoes for an army!
Upon returning home, I was motivated to get out my FRONT RANK catalog and start another dream list! I think he's working toward getting a bunch of forts and buildings together for the SEVEN YEARS WAR ASSOCIATION meet in 1992 and plans to sell them there. Clem is an ex-model railroader who loves to scratch-build forts and buildings. What always surprises me about his work is that he always remembers that we are going to play with his buildings and forts and as a result, they are highly functional in construction, durability, and being able to transport them! Something that other model railroaders have a problem with.
I've been remiss in not mentioning that Tod Kershner has kindly taken over the BITS & PIECES column from Steve Dake who is concentrating on WARGAMING MAGAZINES and WARGAMING CLUBS OF AMERICA. Thanks to both of them!
I'm going to have to change the deadlines for future MWAN's due to the fact that the printer is requiring three weeks to print it. Instead of the last day of the month, I am moving the deadline to the 21st of the month. Thus, if you are submitting ads or materials for the January-February issue, the deadline must be November 21st. I hope this will not present a problem for anyone!
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